By Ian S Palmer
Lineal middleweight champion Miguel Cotto of Puerto Rico will be defending his WBC title against Daniel Geale of Australia this Saturday, June 6 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. The scheduled 12-round fight can be seen live in the U.S. and Canada on HBO while British fans can catch the action on BoxNation. This is Cotto’s first fight in about a year and while Geale isn’t a big-name opponent, he’s a former IBF world champion.
The 34-year-old Cotto will climb into the ring with a record of 39-4 along with 32 Kos while the 34-year-old Geale is 31-3 and has 16 Kos to his name. Cotto is just 5-feet-7-inches tall while Geale stands 5-foot-10. Geale also has the reach advantage at 71 inches with the champion’s wingspan being measured at 67 inches. Even though this is a middleweight title bout, it’s being fought at a catch weight of 157 lbs. Also, Cotto has a rematch clause in the contract in case he loses.
Cotto may be the smaller boxer, but he has more big-fight experience and has fought 305 rounds since turning pro in 2001 while Geale has 252 rounds under his belt since 2004. Cotto enters the fight as Puerto Rico’s one and only four-division champion. Former great Wilfredo Benitez retired after winning titles in three different weight classes. Cotto won the WBC crown last year when he stopped former king Sergio Martinez of Argentina in the 10th round and this fight against Geale is his first defense of it.
Cotto has been in against some of the era’s best fighters such as Manny Pacquiao, Antonio Margarito, Zab Judah, Shane Mosley, Floyd Mayweather, Austin Trout, and Ricardo Mayorga. He was stopped by Margarito in the 11th round in 2008 and stopped again a year later when Pacquiao beat him in the 12th. He dropped a unanimous decision to Mayweather in May of 2012 and was beaten the same way seven months later by Trout.
Cotto’s knockout ratio is 74.4 per cent as he has pretty good power. He throws crisp combinations and is generally quite accurate. He likes to go to the body and can control the distance and tempo of a fight when he’s at his best. However, his chin may be somewhat questionable. He has the ability to absorb quite a lot of punishment, but has been through a few wars up to now which has taken a lot out of him. Geale has decent power, but certainly isn’t as powerful as the likes of Pacquiao and Margarito.
Geale’s losses have been at the hands of Anthony Mundine by split decision in 2009, a split decision to Darren Barker in 2013 and a second round stoppage to WBA Middleweight Champion Gennady Golovkin last July. His last bout came in December when he beat Jarrod Fletcher by unanimous decision. His biggest wins have been against Mundine in a rematch and former champion Felix Sturm. Geale’s knockout percentage stands at 47.1 and the KO loss to Golovkin means he can be stopped. However, he has god skills and a lot of energy who is hard to outwork.
For Geale to win this fight, he needs to use his height and reach advantages and makes sure that he doesn’t leave himself open while attempting to land shots from a distance. He has to land hard shots early and often to keep the smaller champion at bay. Cotto will attempt to work his way inside and establish his jab while digging into Geale’s body and looking for an opportunity to land a few uppercuts.
Prediction
This should be a fairly competitive fight for awhile due to Geale’s size advantages. If he can nail Cotto coming in then he should be able to rack up a few points on the scorecards. However, Cotto’s explosiveness will likely catch up with Geale in the second half of the contest and he should be able to stop him and retain the title some time after the sixth round.
